He has previously played for English Premier League club Chelsea and Barcelona of Spain, and has had two spells at Bolton Wanderers fourteen years apart. He was the captain of the Iceland national team until manager Ólafur Jóhannesson took over the team. Throughout his professional career, Eiður Smári has scored over 150 goals in all competitions with his clubs and the national team.

He is the son of Arnór Guðjohnsen, a former professional footballer. He made his full international debut for Iceland as a substitute for his father in 1996, and is the nation's top scorer of all time with 26 international goals in 88 caps.

After spending the 1994 season with Valur in Reykjavík, Eiður Smári played for PSV in the Netherlands from 1995. After a severe injury to his ankle in 1996, medics at PSV declared him unfit for professional football, which forced him to return to his native country where he played for KR Reykjavík.[citation needed]

Eiður Smári signed with English club Bolton Wanderers in 1998.[2] He made his debut in September 1998 in a game against Birmingham City.[2] By March the following year, Eiður Smári had become a regular member of the Bolton first team, and the following season, he scored 21 times in all competitions as the Trotters reached the Division One play-offs and the semi-finals of both the FA Cup and the League Cup.[2]

In 2000, he was signed by Chelsea for a fee of £4.5 million.[3] Eiður Smári spent most of his first season in London being used as a substitute, but was still able to score 13 times.[3] In his second season, he formed a partnership with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink which provided 52 goals for Chelsea in all competitions.[3] Following the appointment of José Mourinho as manager, Eiður Smári eventually played in a more withdrawn role as he helped the club win two successive Premier League titles.[3]

On 28 January 2010, Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp confirmed that Eiður Smári had joined the club on loan for the remainder of the 2009–10 season, despite undergoing a medical at West Ham United. The striker was offered identical deals by both clubs; however, Eiður Smári opted to join Spurs.[9] On 31 August 2010, Eiður Smári signed for Stoke City on a one-year deal[10] and made his debut for Stoke on 18 September in a 1–1 draw against West Ham.[11] After only making five substitute appearances for Stoke, Eiður Smári left on the final day of the January transfer window to join Fulham on loan.[12] On 31 January 2011, Eiður Smári signed on loan to Fulham until the end of the 2010–11 season.[13] After an unsuccessful time at Stoke, he was released at the end of the 2010–11 season.[14]

Shortly after signing a new two-year contract with AEK, Eiður Smári stated to the press after he was greeted by the AEK fans, "It was unbelievable, I have played and been in many countries but I have never seen anything like this before. It really made me feel welcomed. I was informed that I would have been greeted but this was not what I had in mind. I am a 100% sure I have made the right choice going to AEK. I have come for trophies and nothing else. The least thing I can do is help AEK achieve their expectations after the way I was greeted at the airport."[18]

On 15 October 2011, in the derby match against Olympiakos, Eiður Smári was injured in the 44th minute following a collision with opposition goalkeeper Franco Costanzo. The diagnosis was a fractured tibia and fibula which kept him out for the remainder of the season.[19]

On 2 October 2012, Eiður Smári signed with Belgian Pro League side Cercle Brugge, signing a contract until the end of the season.[20] On 13 January 2013, after an impressive first half of the season with Cercle Brugge, Eiður Smári signed a one-and-a-half-year contract with city rivals Club Brugge for an estimated amount of €300,000.[21]

After leaving Club Brugge at the end of his contract, Eiður Smári began training with former club Bolton Wanderers in November 2014.[22] On 5 December, he signed for Bolton for the remainder of the 2014–15 season.[23]

He made his second debut for the club as a second-half substitute for Darren Pratley in a goalless draw with Ipswich Town at the Macron Stadium on 13 December, the same opponents against whom Eiður Smári had made the last appearance of his previous Bolton spell against in May 2000.[24]

On 4 April 2015, Bolton manager Neil Lennon said that that week was one of the best of Eiður Smári's career. He had returned and scored for Iceland after two years without a cap and six years without an international goal, equalised in stoppage time for Bolton against Blackpool and became a father for the fourth time in that week.[25]

On 4 December 2016, Eiður Smári released a statement on Twitter, "Out of respect i would play for @ChapecoenseReal if they have a place for me! If not just to play with @10Ronaldinho again #ForcaChape".[29] This follows the tragic accident of LaMia Flight 2933 which took place on 28 November 2016, claiming the lives of 71 passengers. Only 6 survived; 3 of which were Chapecoense players.

Eiður Smári made his debut for the Iceland under-17 national team in 1992 at the age of 14. He went on to score seven goals in 26 appearances for the team before progressing to the under-19 side in 1994. He netted twice in nine caps for the under-19s, before making his debut for the U-21 side later in the year. He represented the U-21s for four years, scoring a total of four goals in 11 caps.[30]

On 24 April 1996, 17-year-old Eiður Smári and his 34-year-old father Arnór entered football history when playing in an international friendly for the senior Iceland team against Estonia in Tallinn. Arnór started the match, and Eiður Smári came on in the second half as a substitute for his father.[31]

As it happened, however, the two never got another chance because a month after the game in Estonia the younger Guðjohnsen broke his leg playing for the Icelandic U-18 team against the Republic of Ireland. He had difficulty coming back because of undiagnosed tendinitis in that leg. When he had recovered and was again available for selection for the national team, his father had retired.[31]

On 2 September 2006, Eiður Smári scored in a 3–0 away victory over Northern Ireland in UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying, pulling him level with Ríkharður Jónsson's record of 17 international goals (the latter had held the record since his third goal in 1948, and totalled 17 in 33 matches from 1947 to 1965). On 13 October 2007, his 48th cap, Eiður Smári broke a six-match international drought with two goals in a 2–4 home qualifier defeat to Latvia to become Iceland's top scorer of all-time. He said that the record was made less important by the day's defeat.[32]

Eiður Smári announced his possible retirement from international football after Iceland's 2–0 defeat against Croatia on 19 November 2013 in a play-off for a place at the 2014 World Cup.[33]

He was selected for Iceland's Euro 2016squad at the age of 37. He appeared twice, both as a substitute. He came on late in their second group match against Hungary which ended 1–1.[35] Iceland then surprised everyone by progressing into the last 16, where they caused another shock after defeating England 2–1. He came on and was given the captain's armband in the 82nd minute in their quarter-final match against tournament hosts France. They lost 5–2 and were eliminated, which was potentially his last international match.[36]